A private collection of material focusing on the never ending joys of the Trimet industrial complex
(https://twitter.com/AlYourPalster)
Dispatch/Control clips represent approximately 5% of all calls chosen at random

Facebook post:This was all done by Service Planning and Scheduling without consulting an operator or a Field Ops. supervisor (you know, those of us who are in the field every Goddamn day.) And no, the line 4 stop won't move to the regulatory stop sign unless SP&S will pay all the citations issued to operators by Gresham PD for parking too close to it.

0 Purpose:
This procedure outlines how to park the bus and the requirements for doing so at layovers.
2.0 Procedures:
1. Make layovers only in authorized locations.
2. If your layover is at a bus stop, your doors must remain open to allow customer to board the bus. The only exceptions to the open door policy are as follows:

PORTLAND, OR (KPTV) - A TriMet driver was taken to a hospital after a car slammed into the front of the bus in southeast Portland.TriMet spokeswoman Mary Fetsch said there were no passengers on board the bus when the crash occurred near Southeast 95th Avenue and Division Street on Friday afternoon.The bus driver suffered minor injuries.The driver of the car wasn't injured. Fetsch said it appears that driver may have run a red light before the crash.Portland Police are investigating.http://www.kptv.com/story/15590772/trimet-driver-injured-when-car-slams-into-bus

"It’s about fairness and equity,” Fetsch said. According to her, one inspector claims that, overall, people are “ecstatic” about the enforcement and that riders will be paying their fair share. She compares transit riders who “take a chance on beating the system or getting a ticket” to vehicle drivers who use street parking without paying the meters.

But typical parking tickets are $34 for overtime parking and $60 for exceeding two hours in a permitted area. Are transit freeloaders so much more heinous than parking “squatters” that they need to pay $175?

Portland bus riders getting cranky

Can't say as we blame them. A once-proud bus system has been chopped up and decimated so that Tri-Met can become a rail company. This looks good in The New York Times and makes life easier for Earl Blumenauer when Neil calls.
But the folks who ride public transit on rubber tires are starting to fight back. It will be a long, losing battle, of course. Go by streetcar!

It's easy for transit agencies to be caught up in the dreaded death spiral; but reversing such spirals and driving demand often requires investments to be made. TriMet is willing to make such investments for expansion of its rail system. It should be equally willing, and not so quick to plead poverty, to keep the core of its customer base happy--and to treat them like customers instead of like hostages.

Due to police activity at SW 16th and Yamhill, MAX Blue and Red line service is disrupted. Shuttle buses are carrying riders between Galleria/SW 10th Ave and Goose Hollow stations. However, the police perimeter is not allowing buses to stop at Kings Hill/SW Salmon St or JELD-WEN Field. Riders should expect delays.(this has been going on for HOURS now)

Every three years, the Federal Transit Administration conducts a review -- making sure we are following the rules, regulations and guidance that we agree to when we accept federal funding. The review looks at a wide variety of TriMet business functions, from preventative maintenance, to procurement. The reviewers include staff from FTA region 10, as well as a team of contractors hired to do this special work. A great deal of the work is done prior to the actual review visit -- and we have some champions in the Finance Division, and helpers throughout the agency who did an A+ job on the pre-work. I mention this because it lets me share my philosophy about this -- my hope is that we are 'A' students when it comes to following these rules and regulations. We ask a lot of our federal partners, and we receive a lot in federal funds. Paying close attention to the regulations shows our respect for that, but it also builds trust with the federal government, so that they KNOW an investment in TriMet programs will be well spent. Now, I know the regs are complex, and sometimes honest misunderstandings occur, but still -- my expectation is 'A' student status overall -- and a reputation with FTA as the well-run, hardworking transit agency that we are. thanks and Best Regards Neil

OPAL Bus Riders Unite along with representatives from 30 endorsing organizations call on TriMet to adopt a 3 hour transfer and make transfers after 7pm good all night. OPAL volunteers have collected 6,000 petitions and conducted a 6 month grassroots campaign of research, community meetings and engagement with TriMet Board and Staff. Key leaders and allies will make a formal presentation to the TriMet Board on September 28th at 9:00 AM.

CAMDEN, NJ--(Marketwire - Sep 27, 2011) - PATCO and Cubic Transportation Systems, the transportation segment of Cubic Corporation (NYSE: CUB), have partnered to provide Philadelphia/New Jersey region commuters with the first transit-branded, contactless Visa® prepaid card in the world. The new PATCO Wave & Pay ANYWHERE Visa® Prepaid Card began a 12-month pilot program on September 26. This marks the first time that consumers will be able to use the same transit payment card for both transit and retail purchases.

The sudden appearance of yet another "dumb bus driver" story on the mainstream media has many of us wondering about the motives behind it.

As one of my colleagues pointed out, there has been none of this type of story appearing in the media for some time now. Remember the last flurry of these "dumb bus driver" media events occurred during the contract negotiations.

The stories stopped appearing after the implementation of the Macfarlanes health care plan and the upcoming arbitration.

After TRIMET management loses it's unfair labor practice and loses the #1 rating there just happens to appear yet another story on the mainstream media about a dumb bus driver.

You don't have to be a logistics professor to notice the connection here. Especially since a bus driver on a cell phone is NOT NEWS, its just another dumb bus driver on the road, who cares?

It's becoming very clear that these stories are coming from TRIMET management themselves, will full cooperation of the corporate media, either to humiliate the drivers or distract the public from management misdeeds.

Remember Marshall McLuhan "The medium is the message".

A dumb bus driver is not news. A dumb bus driver getting into a serious accident is news. There is no news here.

As a young environmental activist growing up in north Jersey in the 1960s, I took transit buses all over – into Newark, Elizabeth, and New York City. Later as a college student in Pittsburgh, I took Greyhound across the state many times to get home.

Due to police activity, no Blue or Red MAX trains are operating on SW Yamhill between 15th and 18th. Shuttle buses are replacing MAX service between SW Galleria/Library and Goose Hollow/SW Jefferson stations. Some Yellow Line trains are operating on the Red/Blue alignment through downtown but only traveling as far west as Galleria/Library stations. Riders should expect delays.

I'm really having a hard time right now feeling good about my job here.

I know the honcho's would be happy to see all us old timers out the door. They could replace all of us with new hires, with no vacation time, lower pay scales, and less retirement benefits, and that is what they really want apparently.

Last week I was subjected to two instances where management failure has jeopardized mine and my passengers safety. One day I had to drive a round trip with no signals or emergency flashers and the next day I lost my steering while doing down highway 26.

I suggest you folks that call yourselves managers stop talking about safety till you get our equipment up to standards that can qualify as safe.

Last week I was also subjected to a management "lecture" because I didn't make two attempts to call dispatch after having already sent them a 'ready for service' message that they did not answer. While they failed, I get lectures, its the usual bullshit abuse we operators take while in the employ of TRIMET.

On some lucky mornings we stop on the bridge. Suspended there above the river, our view is exclusive to transit commuters and to the legions of cyclists who now pass us in our moment of stasis. I wonder some days whether our train operator is just exercising his prerogative, remembering the days of childhood when piloting a train over a bridge and then sweeping into a bustling city must have sounded like the best job in the world. As the train starts to descend into Old Town, I hope my operator is still finding some joy in his job. I hope that amidst all the schedule pressures and time-points he gets just a moment to realize that he’s the one who got to grow up and drive a train.TriMet Diaries

According to TriMet, the removed trees will be reused in a variety of ways. Higher-quality wood will be salvaged and provided to furniture and structure builders, such as Habitat for Humanity. Large sections of trees will be reused as playground furniture for City of Portland parks. The remaining wood will be made into firewood for low-income households, or mulched for use in local parks and community gardens.

To sum up: a taxpayer-subsidized international conglomerate, which is operating on public property, is suing the public so it can avoid paying the area’s standard wages and undercut its competitors that do. Then, it exacerbated tensions with the local labor community by importing union workers from another jurisdiction to cross the picket lines.
That’s why ILWU members are angry, and that’s why this is about more than just 50 jobs in Longview.

Over the past two days I have driven buses that were clearly extreme safety hazards.

Yesterday I had a bus with no signals or flashers and today I had a bus that lost its steering while I was heading down highway 26!

We are having a serious crisis at this company and as far as safety being some sort of "value" I have come to believe that is nothing but another in a long list of marketing campaigns designed to trick the public into thinking that this transit system is "safe".

Friday, September 23, 2011

I wrapped up my 5 days at Merlo by cleaning the windows of my 3rd bus this week.As the pictures show,my cleaning rags were filthy after washing just one panel of a slider.This dirt/filth that the drivers and the public must put up with is unacceptable.

Back in July, a 50 dollar savings bond arrived in the mail.Since I had no idea who sent it to me,I sent out thank-you notes to various family members.Yesterday,I was given my 3 year safe driving award along with Neal's thank-you letter.Inside,I was told that I was awarded a savings bond.Mystery solved.

Washington is facing another potential government shutdown in a new partisan dispute over federal spending. Republican-controlled House has approved a short-term funding measure that would link disaster relief to cutting funds for energy-efficient cars. Senate Democrats have vowed to reject the bill. If the dispute is not resolved, the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s disaster relief fund will run out of money next week and the entire government would have to shut down on October 1.

Thursday, September 22, 2011

Some pretty major construction on SW Jenkins between Murray and 153rd, all traffic routed through the westbound bike lane, but no mention of how this is affecting the 67 in terms of delays or stop closures on the service alerts page...

On Board Surveying on Buses and MAX September 23 – December 31
As part of FTA’s evaluation of the Green Line, an on-board passenger survey will be administered on buses serving the Transit Mall (plus Line 6), buses serving Clackamas Town Center, and on MAX Green and Yellow Lines.
The survey will ask customers about their ridership and is designed to provide TriMet and its federal partners valuable information about the performance of the Green Line. This information will also inform future decisions about bus and rail service in the region.
Surveyors employed by NW Transit Count will be handing surveys to passengers on-board the following TriMet services starting on Friday, September 23:
Bus Routes: 1, 4, 6, 8, 9, 10, 12, 14, 16, 17, 19, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 35, 36, 38, 43, 44, 45, 54, 55, 56, 58, 71, 72, 79, 92, 94, 96, 99, 152, 155, 156
MAX: Green Line, Yellow Line downtown service
The survey work will conclude on December 31.
Surveyors will have picture ID, a permission letter TriMet letterhead, and will be wearing vests with the NW Transit Count logo.
Please allow NW Transit Count surveyors working on the system to have access to bathroom facilities and keep their supplies on-board during layovers.
If you have any questions about surveyors or witness any behavior that is of concern, please contact the Operations Command Center (Dispatch/Control).

ATHENS—Thousands of Greek public-transport workers walked off the job Thursday in a 24-hour strike over austerity reforms, a day after the government approved new budget cuts to appease the country's international creditors.
The walkout halted all mass transit around the Greek capital, Athens, leading to massive traffic jams during the morning rush hour—

After dropping $8,000 on bus and train billboards declaring “#1 Transit” in bold yellow letters, TriMet is scrambling to remove the self-aggrandizing ads from public view.
Oregon’s largest transit agency started putting the placards on the side of 168 buses and trains after seeing a February U.S. News & World Report story naming Portland “the nation’s “best city for public transportation.”
The corrected version knocks Portland from first to fifth place in the rankings.“This is unheard of,” said TriMet spokeswoman Mary Fetsch. “We’ve tried contacting the story’s author to find out what happened with the faulty data.”

In TriMet's current budget, and way of thinking, there's plenty of money for the $1.5 billion Portland-Milwaukie light-rail project and a groovy new bridge over the Willamette.There's cash on hand for the Lake Oswego streetcar, staffing for the constipated Columbia River Crossing and start-up costs for the eastside streetcar. There's $53 million for bus maintenance, a million for media relations and government affairs, and $10 million in the mysterious file drawer labeled "Contingency."But for YouthPass, the essential bus ride to school for more than 10,000 Portland teenagers?

1: You’re irate over the president taking so many vacation days on the taxpayer’s dime (61 thus far), but you thought George W. Bushz earned every minute of his leisure time (196 days at the same point in his presidency).2: You’re happy with your 40 hour work week, paid vacations and company-provided healthcare, but you’re strongly anti-union, because those commies haven’t done anything for you lately.

After a conversation with my Executive Board representative Jeff Ackerson, I have amended an earlier post were I referred to the ATU 757 executive board members in a less than flattering manner. It turns out they were just as surprised by our Presidents behavior as I was.

In addition to harboring bacteria that makes you sick,the cloth seats are threadbare and worn out. It is just pathetic that the westside transit ridershave to endure this type of equipment on their bus rides.